


Phobia

by SoDoRoses (FairyChess)



Series: LAOFT Extras [32]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Homophobia, M/M, Tickling, implied/reference threats of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 15:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19872127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyChess/pseuds/SoDoRoses
Summary: Virgil managed to totally miss a pretty big section of human culture.No one is very excited about having to inform him





	Phobia

**Author's Note:**

> a prompt from a nonnie on tumblr: 
> 
> "How does Virgil react to the LGBT community being more widely accepted now? And how does he deal with homophobic comments towards him and his boyfriends?"
> 
> this takes place pretty much immediately after the ending scene in [ Blood ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18930064)

Virgil always felt like he looked a little ridiculous in mortal clothes, but he couldn’t deny that the over-sized black and purple hoodie the others had gifted him with was very comfortable.

It also made him feel a little… well, a little giddy, to be honest, that they’d given him a gift.

And he already wasn’t… _great_ with glamours, so he was happy to only be focusing on his eyes rather than having to handle _all_ of him.

Even if Roman had taken one look at the dark brown Virgil had chosen and started pouting.

“I want to go with you,” Virgil had said, “But I’m not interested in causing a panic,”

“Your eyes aren’t _that_ strange,” Roman had whined.

“Yes, they are,” Virgil and Logan had intoned in near-perfect unison.

“Logan’s not glamouring his eyes!”

“Silver isn’t a typical eye color, but gray is not that abnormal, and since it will be after dark in the evening it is unlikely anyone will be looking too closely,”

“And honestly,” Patton smiled coyly, “Virgil attracts enough attention with just his _face_. We don’t need to let him be any prettier,”

Virgil had sputtered, but Roman had found it funny enough he didn’t protest any more.

At the moment, they’d split off – Logan and Virgil had taken refuge around a building, away from the rides and the noise, especially after the nail-biting experience that was the damn _Ferris wheel._ Patton and Roman had gone to get more… “cotton candy,” the name of which Virgil had found _very_ dubious and Logan had amusingly informed him was also called “fairy floss.”

But once he’d tasted it he’d been probably a little more enthusiastic than was strictly necessary, and Logan equally so. Patton and Roman had found it endearing, hence why they were on their way to retrieve another batch.

Virgil was leaning against the building, Logan tucked up to his chest, both of them with their arms wrapped firmly around each other.

“Pressure stimming” Logan called it. “Lovely” was what Virgil usually said.

Something tickled in the back of Virgil’s mind and he tensed – fear. Not quite enough to make him panic, but enough that he took notice, especially since Roman and Patton should be together, and certainly close enough to him that nothing should feasibly be a threat.

“What’s wrong?” said Logan, obviously having noticed Virgil tense up.

“I don’t know,”

He reached out, plucking the thread of magic that connected him to their charms, examining it – Patton was scared, but – sad, too. Roman, scared but less so, and not sad at all; just angry.

An angry Roman was a Roman who picked fights, and if he got hurt Virgil wasn’t entirely assured of his own ability to be rational long enough to get them away from the fair without collateral damage.

He pushed off the wall, sliding his arms off Logan’s shoulders to take him by the hand. Logan looked like he might be about to ask again, but whatever he saw in Virgil’s face made his expression turn grim, and he followed Virgil back into the crowd silently.

They weren’t doing anything in particular, but the crowd parted for them anyway as they moved through the fair – even the densest humans have _some_ instincts, and Virgil wasn’t exactly _happy_ at the moment.

He followed the flick-pull of the thread, weaving between the rides and the buildings, scanning the crowd – Patton was short, but distinctive, and Roman’s height should make him easy to spot, and – _there_.

Patton saw Virgil and Logan at the same time, looking both relieved and wary. He was standing between Roman and three laughing boys who looked a little older, his hands held out between them.

These people were not from Wickhills, which was probably why they were laughing at him – Patton certainly didn’t look intimidating to the human eye.

Virgil strode forward, standing alongside Patton and only glancing at the interlopers long enough to see them take a collective step backwards. Logan let go of Virgil to take Patton’s hands, and Virgil turned to Roman.

“What happened?”

Roman was shaking, and he hadn’t looked away from the strangers. His jaw was clenched so hard it looked painful, and Virgil reached up to brush a thumb against it, hoping to help Roman relax.

He didn’t, but he did let out a breath he’d clearly been holding for a while.

And then his breath hitched, just barely.

It was not _quite_ a sob – but it was enough for Virgil to see red.

“ _ **What did you do?**_ ” he snarled, turning on the three strangers.

One of them yelped, and all three of them scrambled back, turning on their heels and bolting into the crowd.

Virgil took a step forward to go after them, but Roman reached across him to grab Virgil’s sleeve.

“V, babe,” he said, “Don’t bother, it’s fine,”

“‘Fine’ is not very specific,” said Logan dubiously. Patton didn’t say anything, just picked at a loose thread on Logan’s sleeve.

“Okay, not fine, I guess, but – they’re just assholes, they’re not worth it,”

“What happened?” said Virgil. His voice was probably a little lower than it ought to be, but Roman didn’t flinch.

“It was my fault-”

“ _Don’t,_ Pat,” said Roman firmly.

“It _was_ though!” said Patton, “I saw them staring at us while we were holding hands and I kissed you anyway, I don’t know what I was thinking-”

“…Oh,” said Logan. He seemed to suddenly understand what was happening, but Virgil was still totally lost.

“Why shouldn’t you kiss him?” he said incredulously.

Three equally confused faces turned towards him.

“…Oh, gee,” muttered Patton.

“What?”

“We should move away from the crowd,” said Logan, “Because I cannot imagine you are going to enjoy this conversation,”

They did, around the side of a barn that was thankfully now empty of animals, it being the last day of the fair. Virgil raised his brows at them; all of them looked deeply uncomfortable.

“The college students were homophobes,” said Patton quickly.

Virgil waited. When no further explanation seemed forthcoming, he replied.

“I don’t know what that means,”

Roman seemed baffled.

“Surely a hundred years ago you had homophobic people?”

“Homosexual was only _just_ becoming a medical term, and homophobia was the _default_ -” hissed Logan.

“Homophobes don’t… they don’t like gay people,” said Patton awkwardly. Virgil felt distinctly like he was having some kind of fever dream.

“What kind of asshole gets mad at people for being happy?”

Roman groaned into his hands.

“Okay, I deserved that,” said Patton.

“In the modern vernacular, ‘gay’ usually refers to a person who is attracted to their same gender, not the state of being joyous,” said Logan.

Virgil scowled.

“That’s ridiculous,”

“If you want me to argue with you, you’ll have to pick a different subject,” said Roman dryly.

“When did this happen?” said Virgil, “Why do I keep feeling like the whole human species went insane while I was asleep?”

They exchanged confused glances.

“It’s… it’s actually a lot _better_ now, sweetheart,” said Patton, “It- I would think it would have been way worse, what you remembered,”

Virgil shook his head.

“No, of course not. Greta liked women, she talked about it all the time. She would have said something,”

They didn’t speak. Logan looked slightly pained.

“And… did you ever discuss the subject with a human _other_ than your sister?”

Virgil suddenly felt a little nauseous.

“I- I didn’t talk to any others. Well, Tobias and Trudi, but-”

It occurred to Virgil that Greta had never said anything about it in front of Tobias either – only Virgil. And she’d pretty much stopped talking about it _entirely_ when she got married, but Virgil had assumed she was just happy to have settled down.

“…Oh,” he said quietly.

The silence became a touch awkward, and Virgil cleared his throat.

“What- those three. What did they do to you?”

“They just called us names,” said Patton.

“Well, they called us names, and then I- well-”

Roman shifted back and forth on his feet, and Patton reached out for his hand.

“I may have gotten a little hostile,” said Roman, “And- mildly threatened them,”

“How does one ‘mildly’ threaten?” asked Logan.

“I don’t remember exactly-”

“You don’t,” said Patton, and to Roman, “And, you didn’t,”

Roman huffed.

“But they didn’t hurt you?” said Virgil.

Patton stepped forward, slipping his arms around Virgil’s waist and sighing into his chest.

“Just our feelings,” he said quietly.

Virgil wasn’t sure why Patton seemed to think that should be comforting.

But he was at least self-aware enough to recognize a thinly-veiled “please don’t chase down and threaten the mortals” when he heard it.

“What do you need?” he asked, his voice cracking on the last syllable. Normally he’d be embarrassed, but it was only them in the shadow and dimness behind a barn – no one on the path around the corner could see them. Roman’s eyes softened and Patton squeezed Vigil a little tighter.

Patton tilted his head back, resting his chin on Virgil’s chest to look up at him. He looked distinctly sheepish.

“Could you-?”

And then he reached up and gently touched Virgil’s temple at the corner of his eye.

Virgil felt his neck flush.

“Of course,” he said, blinking, and he knew the glamour had fallen when Patton’s sheepish smile brightened.

He sighed contentedly then, worming one arm out from under Virgil’s to grab at Logan and pull him up against them. He didn’t even need to grab Roman, who moved in to bracket them on the other side, and drop a kiss on top of Patton’s head and one to the corner of Virgil’s jaw that made Virgil’s blush ratchet up another degree.

“Should- do you think we ought to return home?” said Logan gently.

Both humans shook their head.

“No, sweetheart,” said Patton, “We’ll be fine,”

“Just-”

Roman cleared his throat, clearly a little abashed, and hid his face in Virgil’s shoulder.

“Just give us a minute,” he said quietly.

Virgil pressed a kiss of his own to Roman’s crown, nuzzling slightly, and Logan mirrored him with one to Patton’s temple. He also slipped a hand up to Patton’s nape, scratching his nails softly against Patton’s scalp.

Patton melted, giggling softly, and all three of them smiled in response to the sound. Roman leaned down to kiss Patton again, louder this time, smacking his lips against the crest of Patton’s cheek, and Patton let out a delighted squeal.

“You _goober-_ ”

Virgil, unable to resist, squeezed Patton’s side, digging his fingers just so into the gaps between Patton’s ribs, and Patton fairly shrieked.

“Oh, you, _Virgil_ -” Patton giggled, swiping at Virgil’s hand, but then Roman’s hand joined Virgil’s, and Logan shifted his fingers to the side of Patton’s neck.

Patton broke into peals of shrill laughter, and then he retaliated by going for Roman, and Logan defected to Patton’s side and then the next few minutes were a blur of flailing limbs and bell-song laughter.

Virgil sat in the grass, leaning against the building, this time with Roman curled up against him and Logan and Patton laying contented against his legs.

Virgil took a brief moment to wonder how anybody could look at the four of them, smiling and so in love he sometimes felt like it was shining out of their pores, and feel anything but sympathetic happiness.

He decided humans really had _no idea_ what they were talking about.

**Author's Note:**

> i am also [ tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors ](tulipscomeinalsortsofcolors.tumblr.com) over on tumblr!


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